04 November 2011

Jaron is ONE! Happy Birthday Little Bear!

I had a rough start today. Mostly I was fighting some very negative memories of the events surrounding and after Jaron's birth. Fortunately I was able to snap out of it and focus on celebrating him and his first year!

Eating & SleepingJaron is our boy who has us doing things that we never thought we'd do. Like co-sleep full time. As of now he is still in the big bed. Aedyn joins us on occasion, but less often than he used to. As much as I love having them in bed with us, they've both gotten too big for all four of us to comfortably sleep in a queen size bed. So next week Jaron will begin his transition to his own bed in his and Aedyn's room.

He'll still be welcome if he needs us, but our goal is to have them both in their own beds more than they're in ours until our budget is such that we can get a king size bed. Between the two of them, the boys actually managed to push me out of bed the other night...not cool!

It also seems to be a good point in our nursing relationship to make the move; he's nursing less and less frequently at night. On average we're down to bedtime and early morning sessions, then once or twice during the day. If he nurses additional times at night, it's usually because he's been woken up.

I am worried that him sleeping by himself will make him wake more often for awhile, but on the other hand it might make him less likely to wake since he won't have people moving him around or disturbing him. So we'll see!

MilestonesWe'll find out his official stats tomorrow morning, but he's right around 19lbs and 29.5". Tall and slender!

He's walking everywhere, dancing to any music, or just rhythms/beats he hears, and he's starting to run! Heaven help me!

He's a very accomplished climber...a crib is not an option! Bookshelves, tables, chairs, anything that he can get a hand and foot on becomes a mountain to master.

We stopped counting his words once he reached 25, which was awhile ago. But he says "orry" when you tell him something hurts, "dank do" (thank you) when you give him something, and he'll say "I lovoo" back when you say it to him. He says our names, cracker, and juice...all done and will say "pease" when prompted. There are a ton more, plus him nodding and shaking his head yes and no, and pointing to things. He can really make his wishes known!

Personality
Of course, him being so good at telling us what he wants, means that we have to often tell him that he can't have that. Many times he's okay with a substitute we offer, but if he has his heart set...well, he's not lacking in the temper department! (Upside, at the moment, the tantrums only last a few seconds, after Aedyn's that can last over an hour, I appreciate that short lived ones!)

Jaron is a social butterfly and flirt. He waves and says hi to most people we see, and while he's not usually thrilled for people to take him, he'll talk and flirt and play from the arms or lap of anyone he's familiar with. As he warms up he is more than willing to climb into anyone's lap.

With kids, he'll walk right over and give hugs and kisses and want to play or follow them around. He and Aedyn often start out hugging and wind up wrestling on the floor...boys. The general rule in our house is if everyone's smiling, then it's ok, when the smiling stops, it's time to take a break.

He loves to follow Aedyn around and always wants to be involved in what Aedyn is doing. Sometimes he's welcome, other times we have to distract and give big brother a little space.

He is truly a joy to be around and lights up a room with his smiles and giggles. Heartbreaker in the making!

So that's my baby boy! Or I guess my newest toddler...growing up too fast, but enjoying everyminute of life! (We're having cake and a little party for him on Sunday, so more pics of that next week!)